Dr. Helen Caldicott

This is a picture of Helen Caldicott in 2008 (I got this picture form videomedia.swedish.org)

Dr. Helen Caldicott was born in Melbourne, Australia in the year of 1938. She won a Australian Peace Prize in 2006. For the last 40 years she has taught the public about medical hazards of a nuclear age. She has written the following books... Missile Envy, Nuclear Madness, If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth, and A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography. Also some of the books she more recently has written are called The Nuclear Danger, Nuclear Power is Not the Answer, War in Heaven, and If You Love This Planet. She has one book that she is working on right now.

Helen Caldicott has accomplished many things in her life. Dr. Caldicott got her medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1961. Dr. Helen Caldicott was studying medicine at the University of Adelaide when she read Nevil Shute's On the Beach. The novel told the story of five Australians experiencing a nuclear holocaust. After she read the book, she was very inspired when she heard about what happened in the story's nuclear holocaust. So she decided to make a difference.

Dr. Caldicott's Book (www.safecom.org)

Dr. Helen Caldicott has also been the subject of several movies, like Eight Minutes to Midnight, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1981. Another movie is If You Love This Planet, which won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1982. The film Helen’s War: Portrait of a Dissident, was awarded the Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Documentary in 2004 and the Sydney Film Festival Dendy Award for Best Documentary in 2004.

Dr. Caldicott currently spends her time between Australia and the United States of America where she speaks to a lot of different people. She founded the US-based Nuclear Policy Research Institute, which turned into Beyond Nuclear, of which Dr. Helen Caldicott is the Founding President. Beyond Nuclear tries to educate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to ban them to make our future more safe.

Dr. Caldicott is my hero because she has educated many people about nuclear weapons. I think she has made a large impact in the environment. I think if the Earth could speak it would thank her for all she does trying very hard to make the world a better place for everybody. She has been educating the public about medical hazards of nuclear age for 40 years. Dr. Helen Caldicott is an amazing person. That is why she is a true hero.